Chapter Nine

After that night, they began to blame themselves for giving chance to the devil to tempt them. Keyinde knew she was the one who let the devil into their midst so she had to apologize to her brother. She did that after the council meeting with the alpha animals. She knelt before him.

Keyinde: Taiwo!! I know I'm the one to be blamed for our predicament. Please, forgive me!! For..........

He interrupted her.

Taiwo: Did our plea to mother last night made her reverse the punishment?

Keyinde: Just for.......

He interrupted her bluntly and very harsh.

Taiwo: Did it?? Answer my question..

Keyinde: No but.....

He interrupted her again bluntly.

Taiwo: Same as this plea of yours too. Had it been it can change or reverse the punishment, I'd have gladly forgiven you but no, it can't so just get up now and get out of my sight before I lose my temper.

She looked at him with tears of sadness rolling down her cheeks down to her jaws.

Keyinde: Taiwo.....

He shouted at her.

Taiwo: I said go and let me be alone!!!!

For the first time in since when they were born, Taiwo shouted at his sister with so much anger that even all the wolves in the den were so scared. Keyinde herself couldn't hide fear when he shouted at her. She got up and ran out of fear. She ran off to a solemn tree where no animal lived and sat there alone.

Keyinde (Soliloquizing): What have I done? My beloved brother is really mad at me for letting myself be tempted and I convinced him to let's do the bad. What am I going to do to get his favour back? What am I........

She weeped profusely, tried to call upon her mother for help but she got none. Then she talked to her with the belief that she'd hear her out even if she didn't come.

Keyinde: Iyami Olufunke omo Asabi!!! I know you can hear me wherever you her. It's me your precious daughter omokeyinde. Your beloved son is really angry with your daughter because I allowed myself to be tempted and I also made him do the forbidden. Please, let my brother reconcile with me again so that we'll be able to make it through our seeming endless years of punishment that is yet to come. Please!!! I love my brother so much......I love him.........

Tears of sorrow didn't let her complete her prayers properly. She wept for hours and when it was almost nightfall, she climbed down the tree and dragged herself back to the den.

In the den, minutes after keyinde ran out, Taiwo thought and soliloquized about what happened and the reason why he chased his sister out. Wolverine felt pity as he watched his master get mad at his sister but there was nothing he could do. He was also scared at the shout of Taiwo so he hid at a corner and kept watching as Taiwo was thinking deeply but there seemed to be no reason. Infact, there was no reason except that it was the will of the devil to make them suffer, which they allowed. The devil knew the flexibility of a woman's mind and how they could make a man do their will that's why he went through keyinde. Taiwo figured that out after thinking and soliloquizing for hours. Wolverine kept watching as he understood everything he saw and when he saw keyinde enter the den to her quarters, he followed her immediately and communicated with her. He made her understand that her brother's love for her was still the way it was, nothing changed it but his anger didn't let him listen to her. He advised her to go sleep beside him when he's fast asleep. Wolverine knew his master so well. He knew by the time he wakes up the next morning, he'd be calm and if he saw her beside him, he'd be surprised and probably happy. She did as he advised her. The next morning, Taiwo was calm but he saw keyinde beside him, he almost got annoyed but she quickly got up and talked before he said anything.

Keyinde: Wolverine is not happy seeing you angry with me and other animals aren't too.

He calmed down immediately he heard what she said.

Taiwo: Is that why you slept beside me? Can't you sleep alone in your quarters?

She knelt before him again holding his hands.

Keyinde: Taiwo please forgive me!! I only did that to apologize to you. Wolverine watched you from a corner yesterday as you were thinking and soliloquizing and he understood everything that happened. He explained it to me and advised me to sleep beside you, a way to say that I'm really sorry for what happened. I'm really really sorry!!! Please.........

She started shedding tears again.

He sighed

Taiwo: Hmmmmmm!!! Get up.

He helped her stood up.

Taiwo: Everything he told you was true and I've already thought about it but the truth is no destiny can be denied, it can only be delayed and in this ordeal to come, you're the only human that is capable of standing beside me that's why I'm forgiving you. So, wipe your tears now and smile.

She smiled and hugged her brother. Just then, they saw the happy wolverine that had been watching them since he heard their voices from where he was. Since then, wolverine became their pet. He was the only animal that stood beside Taiwo and keyinde anywhere they are. Taiwo's personal ride, Elemundo the alpha elephant only had the chance to do so when his master was with him. They forgave each other and waited for the day their ordeal began.

And so the day they all expected came. Loud cries of the animals outside the den woke Taiwo and keyinde up from a very deep sleep and they both ran out with wolverine beside them to see what was happening. A very enormous, fierceful, fearless and ruthless beast spat fire on the animals. Taiwo was so afraid because he never saw that kind of beast until that moment it spat out fire as it flew very fast. It's shadow alone scared the animals to death.

Keyinde: What are we going to do?

Taiwo: Honestly, I don't know..I've never seen anything like this before and the truth is right now, I'm really scared. This is the day that was spoken, the day we'll be defeated by a seemingly unbeatable beast and be forced to excile and suffer until we're done serving our punishment.

Keyinde was so scared but she had to ginger her brother's spirit.

Keyinde: But we still have to do something. This might probably not be the spoken day of our excile.

Taiwo looked at his sister in despair and placed his two hands on her shoulders. For the first time, She saw fear in in eyes.

Keyinde: Are you afraid too??

He sighed

Taiwo: No matter how strong a man is, he's still going to have something he's afraid of. You see that thing out there, I'm really afraid of its fire. I don't want to get burnt or killed. I don't....

She interrupted him with a tearful voice.

Keyinde: But still, you have to fight...you have to save these animals..you got to....

He interrupted her

Taiwo: I know..I'll pick up my spear, bow, arrows, all in fear and go fight that thing...I know I've got to do something. One thing I'm probably sure of is that I may not come back but......

She interrupted him

Keyinde: Stop saying that!! You're the king of the jungle and you'll come back. Today's not our judgement day.

Taiwo: Just go now and call the council, including wolverine and Elemundo. Tell them I put you in charge in my absence and if I don't return soon, be their Queen. Promise me you will be a greater leader than I was!!

She wept profusely.

Keyinde: No no.....

Taiwo: Promise me!!! Please!!!

She kept crying as Taiwo kept telling her to promise him.

Keyinde: Okay!!! I promise!! I'll be a better Queen....

Taiwo: Thank you!!!

He sadly hugged his sister then turned to go fight the beast then he saw his best animal friend, wolverine. He'd been watching them for a while. He ran off. Keyinde knew that was their judgement day but the form the punishment took, they didn't know but what they knew was that they must not be separated. If that happens, she must give up being queen and search for her brother. Little by little, Taiwo gained courage as he roared. Fear ran through every animal around him except for the beast that saw his roar as a challenge. It landed before Taiwo as he held to his spear firmly. The war between a slim, tall man and a dragon began. Fire consumed everything it touched like wild fire but Taiwo was tactical enough to be able to dodge everything. The Dragon was really angry he didn't get his opponent and Taiwo on the other hand, was happy he angried the beast because in his experience in fighting beasts, the angry ones were the one who pounces on its prey but this was different. The two ran towards themselves and Taiwo, thinking it was going to pounce on him, held his spear firmly in preparation to slide and thrust it in it's stomach but no, he was the one that got the very hard blow and he flew right back to the spot he ran from. He was badly injured but still, he got up to try again and failed. The third time, the Dragon carried strengthless Taiwo far away to the marine waters and dropped him there to die in the deep blue sea. Back home in the jungle, Keyinde and the animals were so worried about their king but still, she had to keep her promise for years until she couldn't keep it anymore. She had to find her brother and together, they would make Oluyole kingdom rise again. She called the council meeting and informed them about her departure, leaving wolverine to rule the jungle and Elemundo as his second in command.

And so did Taiwo and Keyinde left the jungle on a forceful exile. Keyinde left after waiting for few years, when she could no longer wait for her brother's return. Taiwo's survival in the deep blue sea happened miraculously. Maybe I should say he was risen from the dead because a man badly wounded and thrown into the deep blue sea by a fierceful dragon cannot survive in a very deep part of the sea, where sharks dwell. His body layed there in the sea for hours before the sharks found him hidden under a rock. They sorrounded and were about to feed him to their young ones when a deadly blow hit all of them at ones. What hit them, they didn't know until a very beautiful mermaid appeared before them. The sharks were afraid of supernatural creatures so they fled into their den, leaving the body to the mermaid. Mermaids have a way of knowing what's in a person's memory. Marina's way was to put her lips on the person's lips, which she did. She saw everything Taiwo did in his past and his urge to go find his sister if he made it alive after fighting the dragon but then, he was defeated and he died. She also saw the time when the punishment was passed to them. Marina started having strange feelings immediately she withdrew her lips. She carried him to a place that seemed to be a country for all mermans and mermaids. Everyone looked at her and the lifeless body she carried with hate and disgust. She took it to the marine holy place where they prayed to their god Eywa. She met with the priest.

Marina: Chet gulama Dyanga!! (Goodday Dyanga)

Dyanga: Chet gulama maliker Marina (goodday to you too Marina)

Dyanga smiled as she saw the body Marina carried.

Dyanga: Hmm!!! I think I know what you want. You want this rat to rise from the dead again.

In the history of the supernatural marine creatures, Dyanga's generation were the only ones who had the power to give life to a dead body.

Marina: Yes, you're right. I have a feeling that it's not his time to die yet and....

Dyanga interrupted her.

Dyanga: And you started having strange feelings immediately you knew everything about his past. You don't know what that feeling his but you'll get to know later.

Marina: Okay!! So, can you revive his soul back into his body?

Dyanga swam closer, opened the lifeless body's eyes and looked deeply into it.

Marina: What did you see?

Dyanga: I saw his future, his destiny and in the past, I saw a prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled by him and his twin sister that awaits him in the jungle and I saw that he has strength that only the dragon is capable of defeating and that's the only fear he has experienced since his birth.

Marina: You're right, I saw everything too which means that he can be risen from the dead because he hasn't fulfilled the prophecy.

Dyanga: Ones he has risen from the dead, he'll have the ability to be like us, breath like us and he'll become part of us but he'll lose his strength. When he goes to dry land, he'll take his normal form back as human just like we take our normal form when we touch water. In this future, I saw a beautiful woman become his wife.

Marina looked anxious.

Marina: How then will he get back his strength and who's this beautiful woman?

Dyanga: The day he steps on dry land is the day he'll get his strength but as for the beautiful woman, you'll find that out by yourself.

She dismissed Marina and carried the body into her chambers to give life back to Taiwo. She placed him down and began to enchant some incantations as she swam around him with Eywa's spirit filled in her heart. Something like green plants began to grow and covered all over his body until there was no sight of him again and his body started floating as life slowly entered his body. Many days passed, Dyanga was still chanting incantations and as she did that, life slowly entered the body until at last, he woke up as a very handsome merman.